Wanted: Mom for Christmas (A Cates Brothers Book)

by Lee Kilraine

  Maybe because of what they’d shared. But that was a long time ago. They’d both led such different lives since then. As in polar opposite paths.

  “What about you? I knew you were a great athlete, but a silver medal in the Olympics is pretty phenomenal. It’s hard to second guess what your mom did with results like that.” Hawk clenched his jaw muscles, reining in his real opinion of her mother. “It’s rumored you’re a favorite for the gold next.”

  “That’s the rumor.” Her face stiffened and she pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “I don’t know. Somewhere there’s a line between supportive parent and pushy parent.”

  Right. Hawk had no doubts where Nora’s mom fell. As a parent himself, he knew it was hard to find your way and too easy to make a mistake. What Nora’s mom had done—that hadn’t been a mistake. That had been pure calculated manipulation that had changed the course of their lives. Maybe Nora wouldn’t have achieved what she had without it, but to his mind, nothing justified what her mother had done.

  Turning her face away, Nora stared down at her hands, her eyes unfocused. Then she gave a quick jerk of her head and looked back up at him. “I want to hear more about you. So you met Holly at the end of senior year and…”

  “I went off into the army and Holly got her degree in early education from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Somewhere in there I was lucky enough to talk her into marrying me.”

  “Based on the photo of you two in the hallway I don’t think she needed much convincing. She looked at you like you hung the moon, you lucky stud. How did you end up becoming a police officer?”

  “I decided not to reenlist. We’d just had Heather, and I wanted to be around to watch her grow up instead of off in some desert. Quinn and Gage had finished college and were starting police academy about that time. It sounded like a way I could still serve people but be a family man.”

  “Good for you. Being raised by a single parent, I can’t tell you how much I missed not having them both.” Nora paused, realizing what she’d said. She squeezed her eyes closed before looking back at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean your situation. I’m talking about when there’s a choice to be made. My dad chose not to be a part of my life.”

  He knew what she’d been referring to. He remembered her father had never been around, not even providing financial support. “I understood what you meant. No need to apologize.”

  “You want to hear something rich? Guess who wanted back into my life after my silver medal?”

  “You’re kidding.” Man, that had to have left a bitter taste in her mouth. Because he’d known she’d attempted to reach out to him in high school and been rejected.

  “Pathetically, I fell for it. But it didn’t take long to see he didn’t actually want to know me or care about me.”

  “Please don’t tell me he wanted in on your earnings or endorsement deals.”

  “Ha! It sure wasn’t for take your daughter to work day because you need a job for that.” She gave a self-depreciating laugh. “It’s just there’s been this empty spot where my dad should have been. I’ve always wanted my dad in my life, and I never outgrew it. It’s silly.”

  “It’s not silly. It’s normal.” Hawk knew exactly what Nora was talking about because HL had been wanting and asking for a mom for years now. The kid had tried setting him up with women all over town. The pain missing just minutes ago… It hit him now, the guilt squeezing his heart with sharp talons. Nora’s pain was proof that HL probably wasn’t going to outgrow his yearning for a mother. And maybe it was finally time to stop protecting his own heart and do what he could do to avoid handing his kids the same heartbreak Nora faced.

  He suddenly had a lot to think about and he knew it wasn’t coincidence that it all got unearthed when Nora popped into their lives.

  Chapter Six

  Deck the Halls

  The next morning, Nora woke to the sound of someone trying to be quiet in the kitchen. Hawk had said he had to be at work early, but early was relative to a non-morning person. She cracked open one eye deciding if she should go check out the noise. You’re the Rent-A-Mom, Nora. It was still dark in the room, but she dragged herself out of bed to investigate in case it was one of the kids.

  Aaaand she could have stayed in bed because it was Hawk. He stood at the stove stirring something, but turned his head when she plopped her tired behind onto a stool.

  “Hey. What are you doing up?” His gaze flicked down her body before he turned abruptly back to the stove.

  “I heard a noise and thought it might be one of the kids.” She propped her elbow on the island counter and rested her cheek in her palm wondering how Hawk could look wide awake at—she squinted over to the microwave—ugh…four in the morning.

  Although, holy early bird gets the eyeful, had she seen Hawk in his police uniform before? Yes. But suddenly she was noticing him. Something about the tight fit of the khaki colored uniform accentuated his sheer size. Nora had been around plenty of tall men on the volleyball circuit, but they were usually lean and lanky.

  Not Hawk. The man was built. Wide muscular shoulders and rounded biceps so developed they pulled the fabric tight when he moved. Her gaze got stuck on his very firm-looking ass before moving on down to his powerfully developed thighs. She’d bet he’d done at least a million squats, lunges, and deadlifts to get that body. A body like that took dedication and hard work. Deliberation and endurance too.

  You know where else dedication, hard work, deliberation, and endurance payoff? That’s right…in bed. Parts of her body were suddenly wide awake and standing at attention. She closed her eyes, attempting to extinguish the sudden flare of heat, but the vision of his hard body tangled with hers in bed was waiting for her. His hazel eyes burned her up. She bit her lip and moaned at the red-hot image in her brain.

  “Everything okay over there?” He turned to her, raising an eyebrow, his hazel eyes gorgeous.

  Stop that. “Well, it’s four in the morning and I’m awake, so no.”

  He chuckled and slid the eggs he’d been scrambling onto a plate. After grinding a little salt and pepper over them, he sat next to her at the counter. “Sorry I woke you. I was trying to be quiet, but I dropped my mug in the sink.”

  Turned out the view almost made up for the ungodly hour. Liar. It totally made it worth crawling out of bed. Throw in the light, sexy scent of his soap and he could turn her into a morning person.

  “What are you and the kids planning today?” He worked his way methodically through his plate of eggs.

  She thought of the decorations set to arrive today and she smiled. “HL and I ordered a few Christmas decorations for the lawn, so we’ll set those up.”

  “More decorations?” He gave her an amused look. “The idea of you two together all day is scary.”

  “Well, HL told me some of the things Brian ‘weasel-face’ Ralph has done over the years. The Ralph family is going down.”

  “I’ve told HL not to call names.” He sighed. “But yes, the kid has been a challenge. The walnut doesn’t fall far from the tree—and it’s annoying when it falls.”

  “Oh, sorry. ‘Weasel-face’ is all mine, but not one I shared with HL.”

  “I appreciate it.” He rinsed his dish and set it to dry in the dish rack to the left of the sink. “I’ll give you money for the decorations.”

  “No. It was my idea. I’m paying. Wait until you get home from work and see them. HL and I are aiming for epic.”

  “I can’t wait.” A smile played on his sexy lips. “It’s going to be colder today. There’s a bin in the mudroom closet with extra gloves and hats, so grab anything you need to stay warm.”

  “Will do, Officer Savage.” She gave him a jaunty salute.

  “Go back to bed, Nora.” He grabbed his jacket off the hook on the wall and slid it on. “The kids won’t be up for hours.�
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  “I’ll be back in bed, warm and asleep, before your police vehicle backs down the driveway.” Nora yawned, then stood and shivered as her bare feet hit the cool tile floor. That was when she realized she had her skimpy pajamas on: her soft spaghetti strap top and her thin drawstring pants that hung low on her hips. Oh, great, Nora. She was flashing her high beams at Hawk. She casually crossed her arms over her chest, darting a glance to see if he’d noticed.

  “I’d forgotten how stimulating sharing the morning with someone can be. I don’t think I’ll need that extra cup of coffee when I get to the station. Sweet dreams, Nora.” He winked and slipped out of the house.

  So.

  He’d noticed.

  * * * *

  Many hours later, when sane people began walking the earth, Nora was in the kitchen attempting to fix breakfast for HL and Heather. After getting the waffles stuck in the waffle iron, and forgetting to add brown sugar to the oatmeal, they finally decided on cereal.

  “Sorry about that. I haven’t done much cooking the last few years, but hopefully I’ll pick it up quick.”

  HL shrugged. Since Nora arrived, she’d noticed he’d eat almost anything. Heather gave her a look that attempted polite support but didn’t quite make it. The girl was too honest.

  “Okay, I checked on our package, HL, and it’s out for delivery. So guess what that means?”

  “We’re going to beat the pants off Brian!”

  Nora squeezed her eyes shut. Okay, so she’d let her natural competitiveness get carried away. Very un-mom-like. You’ve got to think these things through when you’re dealing with kids, Nora. “No. It means we’ve got to find the box with extension cords your dad mentioned.”

  They checked the attic first, since it was warmer than the garage. Just like his kitchen, Hawk had the attic neat and organized. The precisely labeled boxes made it easy to find the Christmas ones. They peeked into one and found an artificial tree. One of those old-fashioned tinsel ones, only this one was a soft metallic pink.

  “Cool,” HL said. “Can we bring it down and set it up?”

  “I think you should ask Heather. If she’s okay with it, then I don’t see why not.” Hawk was the one who’d directed them to look in the attic. He knew what was up here, so it seemed reasonable that if he hadn’t wanted them to find this, he wouldn’t have sent them up here.

  “I’ll go ask her.” HL zipped down the attic steps.

  While he was gone, Nora found the box they needed with the extension cords, but also a box with ornaments for the tree.

  “She said okay!” HL made fast work of the steps and next thing she knew he was helping her carry down the three boxes.

  They’d just set them all in the family room when a horn sounded out front.

  A peek out the window got an excited squeal out of HL. They accidentally startled the UPS delivery person when they whipped open the front door and practically fell on the boxes.

  “Let’s open them inside first so we can see everything we ordered and plan out where to place them in the yard.” Nora glanced over at Heather and noticed she looked very curious even if she was trying not to. “We could use your help for this, Heather. Three people will make this go faster.”

  Heather’s brown eyes met Nora’s and she shrugged. “Sure. I can help.”

  Opening all the boxes and discovering each fun inflatable decoration was like, well, it was like Christmas. There were oohs and ahs as they held them up, announcing each new item as it came out of the box.

  “Here’s Rudolph!” HL said.

  “Oh!” Heather held a package in her hands, her mouth curving into a small smile. “Penguins riding a polar bear.”

  Nora grabbed a pad of paper and made a rough map of the house and yard so they could decide on the location of each decoration as they pulled it from the boxes. She nodded in satisfaction to see the map filling up.

  “Why did you order boxes of candles?” Heather asked.

  “I didn’t.” Nora added the R2-D2 to the map, placing him in front of HL’s window thinking he’d get a kick out of seeing it from his bedroom.

  “There are three boxes of white taper candles. It says ‘one hundred count’ on each box.”

  That had Nora’s attention. “Three hundred candles? Here’s a life lesson, kids: never shop when you’re tired. I thought I ordered three sets of 100 count lights.”

  HL’s eyes were bigger than dinner plates. “What are we going to do with three hundred candles?”

  “Send them back, that’s what. Let’s stack the candles next to the front door so I won’t forget to return them.”

  “Now are we ready to put the decorations up?” HL had been amazingly patient.

  “Absolutely. Are you coming, Heather? We had lots of fun out there yesterday.”

  She shrugged. “No thanks.”

  Nora knew Heather was shy and didn’t want to push her, but she also didn’t want Heather to think they were excluding her. Of course, she could just be going through a stage. Ten going on teenager. Nora remembered that age all too well.

  HL and Nora threw on their coats and cold weather gear as quickly as they could and carried out all the inflatables and got to work. They took frequent breaks to head inside and warm their fingers and toes. But the cold couldn’t stop them from finishing. Once they had each inflatable arranged in the yard, they began rolling out the extension cords and connecting the timer boxes.

  Hours later, just as the sun settled below the horizon, they turned everything on. It was a glorious sight. Colorful, fun, and crazy. Right up an eight-year-old boy’s alley.

  The look on HL’s face was priceless. Good thing Nora caught it with the camera on her phone. Before Nora could plan for it, HL ran to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “Thank you, Nora,” he whispered. “Santa hasn’t even come and it already feels like the best Christmas ever.”

  “I know what you mean, kid.” She was thirty-one years old and Christmas had never felt like this before. And it had nothing to do with the lights. Well, almost nothing. “Not to step on this moment, but we need to go in so I can struggle-cook the next gourmet meal from Chef Nora.”

  The good news was she didn’t burn their dinner. The bad news was even so, Heather wasn’t a fan. She’d made a stir-fry with chicken and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables she’d found in the freezer. Zapped some rice up in the microwave to go with it. HL liked it, but then he’d probably eat chocolate-covered insects if she served them.

  The after-dinner clean up went quickly with HL chattering away. At one point he stood next to Nora at the sink, his head tilted back to look up into her face. “Nora, how’d you grow so tall?”

  “I just did. When I was in seventh grade, I was already the tallest girl in my class. By the time I was in ninth grade I was taller than most of the boys too. Possibly all of them. And I grew fast, so I didn’t have time to ease into it. I was all skinny legs and sharp elbows, uncoordinated, and a whole lot of awkward.”

  “Grandma says both me and Heather are gonna be tall like Daddy.”

  Heather didn’t look too happy about that prediction and Nora knew exactly how that felt.

  HL scrubbed the dish brush over his plate before looking back up at Nora. “Was it cool being the tallest girl?”

  “Not at first. The taller I got the more I wanted to hide and be invisible. I wanted so much to be like those popular, pretty, petite girls everyone loved.”

  “You did?” Heather stopped wiping down the counter to ask.

  “Oh, yeah. It was bad. And the names other kids called me were the worst. Scarecrow. Bird-legs. Stretch. Olive Oyl.” She rolled her eyes. “You name it and I’ve been called it.”

  “Brian calls me names,” HL said.

  “Totally not cool. But what I learned the older I got was the names said more about them than me. So i
nstead of feeling bad about whatever name they were calling me that week, I’d feel sorry for them. Sorry they felt so insecure that they had to lash out at other people. Sorry that they must not have grownups around them telling them how great they were. And it made it easier to ignore.”

  Both of the kids stared at her, their eyes unblinking and serious. Nora would bet she wasn’t saying anything their dad or aunt hadn’t said a thousand times.

  “And then my mother gave me priceless advice.” It was the one singular thing in her mom’s total career as a mother that made all the rest worth it.

  “What? What did she say?” Heather asked.

  “She said, ‘Nora, you will never be petite as long as you live, so quit trying. You’re tall and strong, so embrace it.’ And I did. I stopped fighting it. I stopped wishing to be different. And I researched things tall girls do well: sports and modeling. So I threw myself into sports and got good and strong. Do you think those people call me names now?”

  “Heck no,” HL said.

  “Actually, they might. But once I stopped fighting what I was, and found a way to use my height, it gave me a reason to love being a big, strong girl.”

  Heather blinked over at her but didn’t say a thing.

  “Okay. Kitchen’s clean. Who wants to put the tree up?”

  Chapter Seven

  O Christmas Tree

  Leading the way, HL pulled the lids off the boxes. “Here’s the tree.”

  Nora and Heather walked over to look in the box.

  “Pink tinsel. Very pretty.” Personally, Nora preferred the natural look, but pink tinsel beat what she’d had growing up: no tree. Her mother was not religious nor sentimental. To her, decorating for Christmas just meant more work when it all had to get cleaned up and stored away.

  Heather reached out, running her hand lightly over the needles.